#they are living in Ghostwriter book as a punishment for Danny

[nelkcats]

Romance is (Not) Dead

Little excerpt of chapter 3

Remember the complete story is in Ao3

"So how are you doing?" Jason questioned trying to hide the laugh behind his hand, that obviously wasn't working very well for him, or maybe he didn't care that Danny knew he was laughing, in which case, rude.

"I'm a fucking swan" Danny raised his wings in frustration, annoyed by his companion's amusement "And I'm not even the right color!"

The halfa had never seen a black swan before, although Dani had shown him pictures of some swans she'd encountered on her travels, apparently they could be very docile or extremely aggressive as the situation required. In this case, he felt very aggressive

"If it makes you feel any better, I think you're a very pretty swan" Jason said, holding back the urge to stroke his wings "and you're the right color, for a black swan"

Although Jason had doubts as to why Danny was that color. If he was right and they were in the story he thought, then originally the swan was white, and there was a completely different swan that was the main nemesis of black color. But that was impossible, the ghost wouldn't put them into a non-existent fable, would he?

On second thought, he would totally drag them into a never-before-told story just to see the end result.

He decided not to think about it for the moment, preferring to assume that Danny was stuck as the protagonist of the story and not the antagonist. The black swan did not have a happy ending, and it was never explained if there was a way to break her own curse.

She was quite an odd character, only appearing for a few minutes to ruin the Swan Princess happy ending, but Jason had always thought that maybe she didn't mean to ruin anything, and was just jealous of not having someone to dance with.

Loneliness is harmful enough, he wouldn't be surprised if the black swan only wanted love like the white one, but seeing that the only way to get it was to take it away from her counterpart, she did what he thought was best for her.

Or maybe he was just overanalyzing a dance. In his defense he couldn't help it, it was Cass's favorite dance, she performed it once a year and always requested the presence of her entire family.

The story was so popular that it became a book, and then a movie, but technically it started out as a dance. Jason wondered which of the three had taken Ghostwriter as his inspiration for the current situation.

"That doesn't make me feel better! Black swans even exist!?" Danny looked at him in disbelief, at least it seemed like he was listening to him that time "whatever, we have to figure out how to break this curse"

"I'm pretty sure you just need a kiss" Jason said, avoiding spouting all the information Damian had told him about black swans

"Actually, just leave me like this and release me when you see the Ghostwriter, there's a game I wanna play with him" Danny said after he thought of an excellent solution to his current problem.

"Which is…?" Jason questioned narrowing his eyes. He was suspicious that Danny would resign so quickly and he didn't believe one bit that the emotion showed in that sentence was positive.

"Untitled Ghost Swan Game" Danny said with a bit of sadism, feeling proud of his idea.

[ectowaves]

Trapped

Prompter: @ghostlyhabato

Prompt: Amateur Novelist: In the events of the Christmas special, Ghostwriter unknowingly kidnaps Danny in his book rather than release him at the end of the episode like he thought. The canon events are all actually Danny making up stories for himself and slowly learning he has no limits, and getting information about ghosts and other events from books around him through osmosis. Meanwhile, Ghostwriter is being hunted down by Danny’s friends and family for kidnapping him, and doesn’t know how ton undo his deed.

Words: 2111

Warnings: unedited, 

“Maybe this is the moral: In the same way my parents love their old Christmas quarrel – everyone celebrates in the way of their choosing. I started abusing the one I love most, and I ruined their cheer. I’ll try to be better come Christmas next year.” Danny smiled as he had his arms around his closest friends.

Sam shrugged off Danny’s arms, “Uhh… nice sentiment, but what are you, a greeting card?”

Tucker smirked, “Yeah, why are you talking in rhyme?”

Jazz giggled as she fluffed her brother’s hair. “Such a dork.”

“We’re not talking in rhyme?” At the look at Danny’s face, his friends and sister took a step back. Danny raised his hands high into the air then cheered, “WE’RE NOT TALKING IN RHYME!”

Ghostwriter smiled as he shut the book on his lap. His prize work was complete, and better than before. He sighed in contentment and looked at his fellow cellmate.

His cell mate inched closer to him and snorted a puff of smoke. Ghostwriter backed away and stopped at the bars.

“Orange?” Walker grinned, holding the fruit close to his prisoner.

“Get that thing away from me!” Ghostwriter screamed curling into a fetal position. The pure white ghost howled in laughter at his prisoner’s distress, The Ghostwriter could hear the jeers coming from his fellow prisoners as he clutched the book close to his chest. Soon Walker was out of hearing range.

Once he could no longer hear the footsteps of his jailor, the Ghostwriter uncurled from his position. The prison time was absolutely worth it, if he could have the glory of one book.

Danny smiled at his friends while they laughed. Maybe… Christmas wasn’t really all that bad.

“Come on Danny, Dad’s going to eat all the chocolate again!” Jazz called from the steps. Danny took one step forwards before he froze. Something felt wrong, like the moment should not have happened. Before his very eyes time froze. Sam, Tucker and Jazz faded away.

“Guys?” Danny cried. He received no comfort or any indication that the ghosts were playing a cruel prank.

Danny watched as the world’s colour faded away. It was like something out of a horror film. All plant life died. The snow melted into nothing. The buildings around him crumbled.

“Mom? Dad! Anyone?” Danny yelled, “Clockwork? What’s happening?”

The ruins of the buildings started to crumble further. Soon they were no more than dust that blew away in a nonexistent wind. Around Danny was nothing but plain white. It was hell, in a different sort of way. Then he felt himself falling, or he thought that he was falling.

Black markings raced by him. Danny found himself screaming again. Finally, he found himself on the ground. Danny stood up and looked around him. He spotted more pitch-black markings. Danny walked towards it.

The black markings turned out to be letters. Danny frowned as he read “the end”

It didn’t take long for Danny to put the pieces together, “I’m still trapped in the story!”

Ghostwriter hid the book underneath the bed. He did everything he could to make it invisible or only visible to his eyes. The book did not respond to his abilities. It was like the book was immune to his will.

Ghostwriter pulled out the book, hoping to read it once more. To his shock, the once purple, green and red markings the cover had been designed with had turned to different shades of blue. Quietly, Ghostwriter opened the book to its dedication. The book no longer said that it was written for his brother Randy, or the infernal boy. Instead it was dedicated to Sam, Tucker and Jazz.

Danny didn’t know how long he sat down and thought. He wondered how he ended up trapped and if he deserved the fate. The poem was supposed to set him free when the lesson was learned. Danny had clearly been taught the joys of Christmas.

It was unfair. He only destroyed the poem by accident. Why did he have to be punished for an accident? Who would condemn someone else to hell because they destroyed their ‘masterpiece’?

Jazz had just told him that she knew he was Phantom. Danny had just defeated an awful future version of himself. Why had he been forced into this?

Danny found himself wishing he could go on another adventure, if only with his sister.

“Hey Danny!” The ghost boy watched as the world started to fade back. He turned to see his sister waving excitedly at him.

“Why is she so happy?” Sam hissed in his ear.

Danny beamed.

Ghostwriter refused to look at ‘his’ book after seeing the change in cover and dedication. He was afraid to see anymore changes. Who knew what was happening to his book?

The other prisoners made sure to mock him at any chance they got. He couldn’t blame them. It wasn’t reasonable to be afraid of fruit. As much as he tried to convince himself of that fact, the Ghostwriter still had the phobia.

His cell mate had been released a few days after his imprisonment. Now Ghostwriter found himself lonely. He tried imaging adventures for himself. He thought about the ghost kid living wild and free.

“You’ve got visitors.” One of the guards clanged on the bars of his prison. Ghostwriter gasped in surprise and relief.

Who would want to visit him?

The guard then noticed something hiding underneath the bed, “And give me that book! It’s going back to the library!”

Reluctantly, Ghostwriter handed the now completely black book to his captors. The guard passed the book to another guard passing by. The two nodded in understanding.

Danny frowned as he finished his newest adventure. It was depressing, but something that Vlad would do.

If a similar situation happened in reality, would Danny allow his clone to fly away? He wasn’t very sure. He would have to give up his secret and that could potentially mean being rejected by his parents. But of he kept it hidden, an innocent girl would be condemned to live on the streets.

Despite knowing the situation was fictional, Danny had a new dislike for Vlad. He needed something that would balance what had just occurred. He wanted to humiliate the billionaire for the fictional crimes he had done. A couple of pranks were an order.

“Danny, I don’t think this is a good idea.” Sam warned.

His world came back again.

Ghostwriter was brought into an interrogation room. Inside were three extremely angry teenagers.

“Where is he?” the goth girl snarled. Ghostwriter pushed her away, doing his best not to hurt her. The girl didn’t let go, but Ghostwriter earned a punch from one of the girl’s friends.

“It’s something that the whole zone has been wondering.” Walker boomed as he entered the room. The goth girl let go, and the prisoner was forced to sit in the only chair in the room.

“I have no idea who you are talking about!” Ghostwriter defended himself.

“Liar! He said that you had him trapped in a poem. I didn’t believe him,” The goth fell on the ground. Her male friend put a hand on her shoulder in an attempt to comfort. Ghostwriter watched this happen with a growing understanding of what had happened.  He stood up.

“I think I know where he is,” Ghostwriter frowned.

Danny frowned as he felt different. Once more he was in the waste land. He felt that he had a new influx of power. Danny looked as new words filled the screen. It started reading it, then smirked. The whole article was about ancient civilizations.

Danny noticed some other words appear a little further away. He stared in awe as he discovered that the paragraph was talking about some ancient artifacts.

“I wonder if there is any information about ghost tribes?” Danny asked aloud. To his surprise, a new paragraph appeared out of thin air. Danny quickly scanned it and laughed. He had a new adventure in mind.

The world started to appear, but instead of Danny being in his town, he was in the Ghost Zone. Danny grinned at the map he was holding in his hands. He would soon get to experiment with another.

Walker slammed open the doors to the library, “Everybody out!”

The prisoners grumbled but obey the warden’s command. As the prisoners left, Ghostwriter and the ghost kid’s friends fanned out to search the numerous shelves of books. Each book looked to be incredible old, it shouldn’t have been that difficult to find the newest book. Still, the group couldn’t seem to find it.

Ghostwriter wondered if the book was thrown away. That would mean punishment from the goth girl. Ghostwriter had overheard stories about what the girl was capable of and did not want to feel it first-hand.

Then, out of the corner of his eye, Ghostwriter noticed a group of three books glowing bright green. He approached them, and his eyes widened. He had found what they had been looking for.

Danny smiled as he waved good-bye to his ‘cousin’. He hoped to see her again one day. Danny put his wrist out towards Valarie. She shook her head and told him to leave. It was the perfect end to another perfect adventure.

Danny allowed himself to sigh in contentment. Then he watched the world fade away. What adventure could he come up with next? Danny decided that he would take a break and rest. He wondered if he could sleep. He received his answer when he began to snore.

The books stopped glowing as soon as Ghostwriter appeared. The ghost picked up the newest looking book. He noted that the book was in between Legends of the Living World and Legends of the Ghost Zone. To his horror, it no longer read The Fright Before Christmas. Now it was called The Adventures of Danny Phantom. The Ghostwriter wanted to cry at the destruction of his latest work.

“I found it!” He yelled. The warden and the boy’s friends came to his call. They stared in shock as they spotted the book in the Ghostwriter’s hands. Then the goth girl flipped through the books.

“Do you write this?” the goth girl asked, flipping through the book. Ghostwriter shook his head.

“Only the poem, and even that I did not finish writing.” He tried to keep the depression out of his voice. The red-haired girl shot him a pitying look anyways.

“How did he manage to do all these adventures in five days?” The boy with the yellow sweater asked, “And how do we get him out?”

“Isn’t it obvious? Write him an ending!” Walker ordered. After he saw the group’s bewildered glances, the warden frowned, “I have a life beyond this prison.”

The red haired girl grabbed the book from the goth. She opened to the blank pages then pulled out a pen from one of her pockets. Then she began to write.

“What are you-” the boy began to ask.

“She needs to concentrate.” Ghostwriter warned him. Everyone became silent as the girl continued her tale. Ghostwriter hoped she knew what she was doing. If the warden was right, the tale would have to fit Daniel, if even on a surface level.

Danny smiled at Sam as the two of them lounged against a tree. He finally had his happy ending. The world was saved from the Disasteriod, Vlad was in space, his parents accepted him, and Danny was in a new relationship with Sam. The ghosts would come but it wasn’t anything Danny couldn’t handle. Amity Park would be safe for years to come.

Danny leaned against his girlfriends, wanting to hug her one more time before she disappeared into the abyss. He didn’t want things to fade, but it always did at the end of the story. Then the process started.

Danny watched the world freeze. This time, Sam didn’t disappear. Confused, Danny looked down at himself and saw his body fading away.

“What?” he whispered. There wasn’t much more to say. Would he forever be gone, like the stories he had previously told? Danny had a feeling he would. He closed his eyes.

The eldest girl smiled, “It’s done!”

The group waited in silence for anything to happen. Moments passed and nothing happened. He was just about to apologize when the ghost boy appeared in the room.

“Danny!” His friends cheered.

“Guys?” Danny whispered, opening his eyes. He looked so sad, like he didn’t think what was happening was real. Ghostwriter couldn’t blame him. It would take a lot of time before the Phantom would accept that he was in the correct reality.

[ibelieveinahappilyeverafter]

I wasn’t quite sure how to do this, but then I was struck by inspiration. Also I based Jazz’s psychology professor off of my own. Dr Carpenter is the best.

Wondering what that blocked out part is? It’s a secret phrase that’s unlocked when you support my Patreon! If you send me a prompt with that secret phrase then your drabble has a chance of being done as soon as I can get to it - usually that same day! Want to see the drabbles I’ve done so far? Just check out the Patreon Drabbles tag! I also give away these secret code words every week or so! So many chances to see what YOU want written! 

::

“I was a powerful assassin once.” Andrew had been feared. Andrew Riter had once been the Priest of Death, the most terrifying ghost story in all of France in his time. “I have history books documenting my missions.” There were still people out there who told stories of the Priest that had been sent to collect the souls of the damned. He had been feared and yet… And yet…

“Mhm, that’s nice. What’s the answer to number seven?” And yet here he was being used as a ‘study buddy’ for a twenty-one-year-old’s psychology exam. How far the mighty had fallen, truly.

“The uncontrolled stimulus is the customer complaints and the uncontrolled response is the anxiety to those complaints.”

“Dammit. It’s worded strangely! That’s the only reason I’ve having such trouble with this one!” Jasmine Fenton threw down her practice test papers before crossing her arms and sulking with an expression that matched her brother’s perfectly.

“You know, we could have all had a nice day out walking the mall, but no. Instead we’re stuck in your dorm room and helping you study for an exam.” Ah, at least Danny was suffering with him, that was the important part of this. “Andy, I’m bored.”  

“Tell that to your sister.” Andrew pulled a stack of flashcards over, looking up at the derisive noise Jasmine made. “What? What’s wrong with flashcards?”

“Nothing, they’re just not very helpful. Dr. Carpenter always says that testing is the best way to learn new information and-”

“I don’t care what psychology says because there is nothing wrong with flashcards! I passed nearly all my classes using flashcards in my time.” There was a snort from Danny that Andrew quickly silenced by pushing the teen off the bed.

“Mhm. Maybe if you tested more you could have passed them all.” Jasmine gave a bright, cheery smile and Andrew was sure he had a very undignified expression on his face judging by Danny’s snorting and laughing.

“I- You- I’m still older than you!” Yes. That- Great. Great comeback, Riter. Saying something like that was certain to show off your maturity. “I’ve been through this all before, I know what going through college is like-”

“Yeah, but you focused on secondary education, right? You probably didn’t have any psychology classes past the basic 101 and, well, let’s be honest, Andrew. A lot has changed since the 80s. We even have these things called cellphones now.” Whoever said that Jasmine Fenton was a mature and responsible adult was a filthy liar.

“I thought you were supposed to be the adult of us, Jasmine.” Andrew threw a flashcard down at a still laughing Danny, pleased when the corner hit him right in the center of his forehead. “You misuse commas.”

“You’re too flowery in your writing and never seem to use the word said as a descriptor.” Did she just- She had! How dare- Wait.

“You’ve read my writing?” As an answer, Jasmine pointed to Danny and, ah, right. Danny. The teen who had read his words dozens of times over even before he knew who the Ghostwriter was. He had such a sweet mate. “Flashcards can still be helpful.”

“I never said they weren’t, I just said that testing is more helpful.” Not as helpful as flashcards, but he had little hope of convincing her of that. It was impossible to change a Fenton’s mind once they had decided something. “Number ten?”

“Weren’t you just on seven?” Looking back to his notes, Andrew flipped through them before slowly nodding. “Your teacher is a fan of example learning, isn’t she?”

“Example learning?” Glancing to Danny, the teen was looking at him curiously, eager to learn, and, really… How was Andrew ever supposed to resist?

“I’m sure it has a more technical term, but I was taught that it was called example learning - or teaching, depending on how you view it. It’s basically using real world examples and stories to better explain a concept to a class or an individual. You know how I use the ghosts and their lives to explain ghostly concepts to you?”

“Ooh.” His smart little mate was adorable. “That’s actually a really great way to learn, though, isn’t it?”

“It both is and isn’t,” Andrew admitted, flipping through some of the notes to find the needed information for question ten. “While it can be helpful for adding context to what you’re trying to teach, it can also confuse the student if they’re not sure what it is they’re supposed to be learning, especially on tests. The examples you use are very important and even then sometimes it’s better to stick with a technical definition. Punishment, by the way.”

“Knew it!” Jasmine beamed, marking something down on her recovered test papers. “It’s a bit hard to tell the difference between that and negative reinforcement.”

“Only at the beginning. Remember that your professor said this was the most difficult chapter to learn conceptually.”

“That just means it’s a challenge.” At the far too familiar words and expression Andrew found he couldn’t help but to laugh. “What?”

“It’s sometimes very easy to tell you two are siblings.” The identical pouts only proved his point, truly. “You know I’m right.”

“Hush,” Jasmine scolded, turning in her chair towards Danny. “Hey, baby brother, weren’t you going to grab some snacks? Bring some back?”

“Only if you pay.” At the card that was tossed his way, Danny was up and out the door so fast Andrew was half certain that he had used teleportation to do so.

“Now, Andrew, talk to your big sister.” There were so many things wrong with that Andrew wasn’t even sure where to begin. “You’ve been around Danny too long. It’s obvious there’s something on your mind.”

“First of all, never say that again. Ever.” ‘Big sister’. “Second, I’ll always be older than you no matter what. Third, what on earth makes you think I want to talk to you about something?” Nevermind that he did, he just wanted to know how she always knew. “Clockwork warned you, didn’t he?”

“You really think he would misuse his powers over time-”

“Yes.” Suppressing a smile at Jasmine’s laughter, Andrew watched her before looking down to the flashcards and flipping through them. “It’s nothing important, really.”

“Oh? Proposing to my little brother is ‘nothing important’?” Hm, it had suddenly just gotten really hot in here. How strange. Andrew should look into that - global warming, probably. Definitely global warming. “You’re blushing and not denying anything.”

“I- Yes, well, you see… Mm.” Terrifying ghost story of France, huh? So much for that visage. Aa, he really was bad at all of this. “Is this the part where I ask you for your blessing?” Feeling the bed dip down, Andrew chanced a glance to where Jazz had sat down beside him.

“I think you did that a few years ago when you started dating him. Happen to remember what I told you then?” Jeez, that had been back when Danny was sixteen- Something he still tried not to put too much thought into. “Come on, it was important sister wisdom.”

“I have a good memory, Jasmine, but I don’t have perfect recall like my brother.” At the elbow to his side, Andrew hid a laugh and instead sighed dramatically. “Something about making him happy?”

“Close.” Jasmine’s arm linked with his, Andrew noticing she was smiling softly. Warmly. “I said that as long as you two are happy together then I’ll always support you. Are you happy?”

“Ridiculously so.” Andrew finally felt some tension leave his shoulders that he hadn’t even realized was there. “I… He’s Danny.” That was all he really needed to say, wasn’t it?

“Yeah, he is.” This was why he and Jasmine had gotten on so brilliantly. She understood just as much as he did how special Danny was - and being half-ghost had nothing to do with it. “You’ve also been playing with something in your pocket for near the entire time you’ve been in the room. Also, Randy gave me a heads up.”

“I knew it.” Randy had been tormenting him ever since he had accidentally seen the ring Andrew had bought. “He has no concept of privacy!”

“Like most big brothers, then.” Hmph. “You know we all approve and that Danny will say yes in a second. Why are you so nervous that you’re asking me for advice?”

“I… I want it to be perfect. He deserves to have it be perfect.” At the laugh he heard, Andrew looked up and felt his heart somewhere near the core of the earth. He knew he was a bit sentimental, but…

“Oh, Andrew, I’m not- I’m not laughing at you, just… This is Danny. Everything you do is perfect in his eyes.” It- Well- Not… She might have had a point. A small one. “Andrew, Danny loves you. He’s been in love with you since you two started those library study dates.”

“They weren’t dates at the time,” Andrew cleared his throat, rubbing at one of his cheeks that was no doubt a bright purple. “I… He’s had it so hard, Jasmine, and I just…” For as many words as he knew and as many ways as he could put them together Andrew had yet to find a way to truly describe Danny and the way he had changed him and all that he wished he could give back to the teen.  

“Hey, keep going like this and you’re going to psych yourself out,” Jasmine patted at his hand, head moving to lay on his shoulder. “Andrew, you could propose to him while lying on the couch at Vidya and he would remember that moment for the rest of his life with nothing but joy and happiness.”

“You know, this is supposed to be a lot more dramatic. I’m supposed to be sobbing and a hopeless wreck as I tear my hair out and you scream at me for stealing your precious little brother and-”

“Oh? So as dramatic as when you and Danny got together?” That had Andrew falling silent, memories of that night so long ago fluttering into his mind. They… There had been a thunderstorm and Danny had been crying and ended up confessing and it had felt so… So…

“Oh, Andrew…” Jasmine tucked herself closer, voice quiet, amused, and so warm. “You two are natural together. That’s why this conversation feels so easy and why you’re stressing out to begin with. It’s because it’s natural, right? You probably bought the ring before you even realized you wanted to propose.” That… She… “It’s stressful because you can’t believe it feels so right. It’s natural. You two were just… You were meant to be.”

“Hey, okay, so they didn’t have those chips you like, so instead I got… Why is Andy crying what did you do oh my god Jazz I was gone for ten minutes.” Was he crying? Andrew brought a hand up to his cheek- Oh, so he was.

“We were having a very serious talk about psychology.” Jasmine made no move to get up, Andrew a little grateful for the support as he tried to get himself together. “If any of those snacks have cheese on them I’m kicking you out of my room.”

“Kick me out and I keep all this sugar to myself.” Danny skipped over in a way that made Andrew certain that he was flying at points. It ended with him tightly snuggled up against Andrew’s side, wiping away the tears that he had missed. “Pretty good bonding day?”

“A rather interesting one, I suppose.” Andrew wrapped an arm around both of the Fenton siblings and hugged them close, not wanting to be anywhere else in the world than where he was there and then.

Hm. The box in his pocket didn’t feel as heavy.